Bill Easums Observations

Apparently, we’re a nation of addicts and the list of addictive substances just keeps on growing.

• Drugs
• Alcohol (okay, it’s a drug, but it’s legal)
• Sex
• Relationships
• Food
• Work
• Video Games
• Porn
• and the newest entry: Blackberries.

If you think that the last entry is about fruit, you’re not suffering from the last addiction. That last one is about that little black box we call a phone, calendar, web browser, to-do list, contact list, games port, photo album, MP3 player, eBible, book reader, and so on. Of course, all of that is available on a number of different phones, but it’s the Blackberry that has probably created the most interest in the world of addictive phenomenon: the CrackBerry. People are checking the email via their Blackberries (and to be fair, a number of other “smart” phones) in bed, while driving, in the bathroom, during dinner, and (horror of horrors) during worship in church (12% according to an AOL poll). About the only “safe” place to keep away from this addiction is at a movie theater, which is arguably just another cross-addiction.

What’s the implication for the church? Well, besides the fact that pastors are now competing with the Blackberry for their parishioner’s attention, if the church is going to reach those of the techno-generation, it’s going to have to come out of the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, or even the ’90s. The church is going to have to embrace technology in a new, different, and big way. I remember hearing years and years ago from Bill Easum that the church needed to start upgrading technologically then … and in general, the church hasn’t made much progress.

Here are a couple questions to shake your church’s tech-tree.

1. Our church has a website.
2. Our church’s website is updated at least monthly.
3. Our church’s website is interactive - it includes opportunities for users that include a blog, private and public journaling, devotionals with commenting opportunities, a discussion forum, polls, and live chats/training.
4. Our church provides RSS feeds so web users can keep up-to-date.
5. Our church produces weekly podcasts.
6. Our podcast’s content is more than just an recording of last week’s sermon.
7. Our church has wireless Internet available for use in the sanctuary and in all classrooms.
8. Our church has an LCD projector or large screen monitors in the sanctuary.
9. Our church uses projection technology during worship for more than just projecting words.
10. Our church produces its own video shorts for use in worship.

Bill T-B

It wasn’t long ago that the word “mega-church”came into existence. The definition of a mega church usually refers to Protestant Churches over 2000 in worship. Prior to the 1970’s there were just a handful of mega churches.

Since the late 1970s the number of mega churches has increased. The past twenty years the number has escalated. Now the number is exponentially increasing, some 2 1/2 new mega churches every two days or so.  For more info on the mega church click here.

What is interesting to note is that when the mega church grows to more than 5,000 it usually starts growing faster.  So I coined a new word for churches over 10,000 in worship during an interview with the Washington Post in 2004 - the “giga Church.”

Over the next ten years we will more and more giga churches and will need another word for them.  I think”Tera Churches” would do (not my term). Tera churches are those over 50,000 in worship. So far in the U.S. there appears to be only one such church - Lakewood in Houston, TX. I think we will see many more of these churches as the multi-site concept spreads across the U.S. 

What implications do you see for the rise of the “giga” and “tera” churches?

The other afternoon, I heard from a judicatory leader who shared a disturbing conversation she’d had with a young church pastor who was having a hard time with some “antagonists” in the church. He’d gone to several more experienced pastors to get advice, but hadn’t been able to solve the issue. So he mentioned the issue to the judicatory leader seeking her wisdom. She told me she’d listened to the pastor and then asked what advice he’d received so far. He told her, “They told me that pastors should expect to be abused by their congregation, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me.”

What a sad commentary . . . a pastor should expect to be abused. This story served as a reminder to me that many, many churches in North America are in a sorry state. In fact, abusive churches have become more the “rule” than the exception.

I know that’s hard to fathom, for some. Some of you reading this are in healthy, thriving churches that support their church leaders fully. But then there are the rest of you. And it’s you that the rest of this post is for.

First, abuse is not okay. Never has been, never will be, and there are a few things you can do about it if you are being abused. First, I invite you to read a couple of books. Start with Antagonists in the Church. Then read Clergy Killers. And finally, get your board, pastor-parish-relationships committee, etc. to work through Tom Bandy’s Kicking Habits. You’ll also want to read my article “Discipleship 101″ in the Sept-Oct 2007 issue of Net Results magazine (where I teach about dealing with Church Bullies and Church Terrorists) and Bill Easum’s article “Back to Basics” in the same issue. Finally, you simply must read “On Not Being Nice for the Sake of the Gospel.”

Second, if your church won’t put an end to the abuse, and if you can’t do it on your own, then run, don’t walk, to your bishop, DS, regional minister, area minister, mission associate, etc. and ask them to help you find another church or calling. But whatever you do, don’t allow yourself to be abused by the church because abuse is not okay.

Bill T-B

When it comes to online ministry, much has changed … and much has not. A couple weeks ago a group of computer programmers and web gurus told me about a cyber church in the Second Life world. As they described it, I became intrigued. First, the “people” that attend the church are actually avatars that are controlled by people sitting behind keyboards literally all over the world. The church service, Bible studies, discussion, etc., are in real time and are led by real ministers. There’s real music, real preaching, and real ministry going on.

At first, it would be easy to dismiss the phenomena as just another computer program attended by people who are addicted to computer gaming, etc., and that this isn’t a “real” community at all. It’s funny, though, that’s pretty much the same thing I heard ten years ago when the congregation I led took the plunge to get out from under our real estate and became a network of Seattle house churches. Having no building meant we couldn’t “really” be a church.

The first cyber church I reported on was the Alpha Church in Under the Radar by me (Bill Tenny-Brittian) and Bill Easum. That was several years ago and much has changed in the world of cyberspace. So much so, that a church that churches that treats their website like a Yellow Pages’ ad are falling further and further behind in their evangelistic effectiveness. Today’s church website must be both invitational and interactive. Sure, there are folks currently in our congregations who will never so much as fill out a poll on the church’s site, but the question is, what are we doing about those in our communities (both locally and cyber) who are looking for a safe place to explore the faith and/or ways in which to further their faith via the web? Today’s church websites can easily include blogs that invite comments, devotionals that include journaling options, prayer rooms that offer both live and long-term posting opportunities, training videos, podcasts (audio broadcasts), polls, and even spiritual self-assessment inventories that suggest the “next step” in their faith walk, based on their scores. There are scores of these “web-empowered” churches out there … you can find some at the Web-Empowered  Church website and the Examples page.

Churches that treat their website like more than an online newspaper ad with a map and service times are the churches that are telling the community “We’re here for today and are reaching into tomorrow.”

Bill T-B